Head of Financial Crime Compliance

Responsabilities

Framework Design, Standards & Governance
• Lead the design, implementation, and continuous enhancement of the Group Financial Crime Framework, including policies, standards, governance structures, and risk appetite.
• Own and develop the annual enterprise-wide Financial Crime Risk Assessment (FCRA), ensuring it drives meaningful risk insights and informs mitigation strategies and control evolution.
• Introduce, communicate, and enforce minimum financial crime compliance standards across regions and business units to ensure consistency of practice and regulatory alignment.
• Establish and drive strong financial crime risk management practices, embedding financial crime principles into enterprise risk frameworks.


Incubation of New Financial Crime Operational Functions
• Design, stand up, and temporarily incubate new operational financial crime functions (e.g., new jurisdictional AML procedures, new product control requirements, onboarding/KYC models, sanctions processes) where required due to regulatory change, product launches, or organisational restructuring.
• Define the required processes, competencies, tooling, and KPIs for such functions to make them operationally effective.
• Oversee early-stage execution to validate design assumptions and ensure alignment with risk appetite and regulatory expectations.
• Manage the structured transition of these incubated functions into the First Line of Defence, ensuring they are fully capable and sustainably embedded.


Oversight, Monitoring & Assurance
• Develop and execute a group-wide 2LOD monitoring and assurance programme to test and challenge the effectiveness of 1LOD financial crime controls.
• Perform thematic reviews, deep dives, and targeted assessments to ensure operational adherence to minimum standards and regulatory obligations.
• Track, challenge, and report on remediation actions, escalating deficiencies to senior management where required.


Advisory & Challenge
• Provide expert 2LOD guidance and challenge to the First Line on new products, markets, technologies, and operational processes.
• Ensure that new business initiatives incorporate effective financial crime controls from the design stage through to deployment.
• Review and challenge risk assessments, model design, rule sets, and operational procedures to ensure they are robust, scalable, and compliant.


Regulatory Compliance, Reporting & Horizon Scanning
• Maintain awareness of emerging global AML/CTF, sanctions, fraud, and ABC regulatory developments, and assess their impact on the group.
• Lead regulatory change projects within the financial crime domain, ensuring frameworks and standards are updated accordingly.
• Prepare and deliver clear MI, risk dashboards, and assurance reporting to the Executive, Board committees, and regulators.
• Support regulatory examinations and audits by presenting an independent and informed view of financial crime risk and control effectiveness.


Cross-Functional Leadership & Culture Building
• Partner with Product & Technology to ensure financial crime tooling aligns with regulatory expectations, risk appetite, and minimum standards.
• Collaborate with regional and functional leaders to embed strong financial crime governance and drive consistency across jurisdictions.
• Contribute to building a proactive risk culture, strengthening organisational awareness and accountability for financial crime risk.


Team Leadership & Capability Development
• Build and lead a high-performing 2LOD financial crime compliance team, focused on oversight, assurance, advisory, and framework design.
• Provide coaching, training, and development to uplift financial crime expertise across both 2LOD and 1LOD teams.
• Champion a culture of continuous improvement, risk ownership, and regulatory excellence

Qualifications & Skills

Education & Experience
• 7+ years’ experience in financial crime compliance, AML advisory, risk oversight, or similar roles within financial services or fintech.
• Proven experience designing risk management frameworks, conducting FCRAs, and establishing minimum standards.
• Experience setting up or remediating financial crime operational functions.


Technical Skills
• Deep understanding of AML/CTF, sanctions, ABC, and fraud regulatory requirements.
• Strong knowledge of financial crime systems, model design, and data-driven control performance assessment.
• Ability to interpret regulatory expectations and translate them into scalable frameworks and standards.


Soft Skills
• Strong leadership and collaboration skills with the ability to influence at all levels.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management, with a clear, structured approach to challenge.
• Strategic thinker with strong analytical capability and attention to detail.
• Comfortable navigating ambiguity and driving structure in high-growth or evolving environments.